Satelitte Island Will Fulfil All Your Private Island Dreams

Spread over 30 hectares of rugged wilderness, the privacy is next-level.

Thirty hectares of raw wilderness all to yourself; a dreamy cabin on a jetty; and the exhilarating sense of total seclusion – Satelitte Island is a secret that once you’ve stumbled upon, you won’t want to share. Fortunately, however, private owners Kate and Will Alstergren don’t feel that way and when they’re not using it, they’ve opened it up to the public to rent.

“I get so much joy from the people who stay here,” Kate Alstergren told Australia Coast to Coast Country Style magazine. “They’re usually the sort who have the same appreciation for isolation as us. You can have one day and night here and feel like you’ve been away for two weeks.”

A whale-shaped freckle of an island, you’ll find it south of Tasmania’s mainland and before Bruny Island, in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Once you’ve reached its pebbly shores, however, its location will be irrelevant because as you’ll discover, it’s a world entirely of its own.

To ensure complete privacy, the island can only be booked by a couple or single group at a time. The packages are simple – they’re for a two-night minimum and are inclusive of nearly everything you’d need: supplies for gourmet breakfasts, a fully-stocked pantry, and all linens – not to mention equipment for half a dozen water-based activities too. Apart from bringing what you’ll make for your lunches and dinners, you won’t need to do much else.

Arrive hungry as upon docking, you’ll be greeted with a bucket of wild oysters shucked straight from the sea. Washed down with a glass of Tasmanian sparkling, they’ll be your first taste of what’s to come: indulgence in isolation.

Once you’ve dropped your bags, you’ll no doubt want to explore your surroundings. And, with vast expanses of native bush, pockets of ancient blue gums, and not one, but three winding walks, there will be plenty to see and do.

The thirty-minute Field Walk will lead you to the top of the island; the hour-long Rock Shelf Walk, around the coastline; and the ninety-minute Cliff Walk, along its cliff tops. It’s that last one, however, that will give you the best chance of spotting deer, quail and, if you’re lucky, the island’s resident pair of sea eagles.

By the time evening rolls around, you’ll be more than ready to eat. Dinner can be cooked with the ingredients you’ll have picked up in Hobart before casting off to the island – all from the list of recommended places you’ll have been sent when booking. And, with Tasmania known for its world-renowned produce, you’re in for a tasty one.

If you’ve chosen to sleep in the Summer House – where the kitchen is – you won’t have to head far to make it to bed. Designed to blend together design elements from typical Scandinavian seaside properties with ones from Tasmanian wilderness cabins, it’s exactly where you’d want to be after a big day in the great outdoors.

If the sound of gentles waves lapping and the smell of salty sea air is more appealing to you than the perks of the Summer House, the second accommodation option, the Boathouse, might be a better choice. Though, if you’d seen photos of it before you booked Satelitte Island, it’s more than likely it was the sole catalyst for doing so at all – it’s that enticing.

Consisting of two simple bedrooms, a wooden deck, and a shower opening onto the rock shelf, it has to be one of the most unique places to stay in the country. If neither the Boathouse nor the Summer House tickle your fancy though, the final option is a luxury bell tent perched on a clifftop. There, you’ll leave its doors open and fall asleep to the noises of the forest.

Regardless of where you’ve chosen, you’ll inevitably wake with an overwhelming feeling of calm. There will be nowhere you need to be; nothing you need to do; and – with barely any mobile signal on the island – no one who will know exactly where you are.

After a leisurely breakfast, you’ll spend the day on or along the water fishing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, or snorkelling. Or, on land – playing board games, practicing yoga with provided mats, taking a picnic to the top of the island, or simply doing nothing at all.

Intended to be more than just a holiday, your time on the island will be an antidote to the lightening fast pace of your every day life. Without reception, you’ll have no other alternative than to connect with your companions, embrace your environment, and just… unwind.